Automatic starting and stopping mechanism for phonographs



J. c. TOBCHIA. AUTOMATIC STARTING AND STOPPING MECHANISM FORPHONOGRAPHS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9,1920- 1. n 1 7 N w w c d2 m P J. C. TORCHIA.

AUTOMATIC STARTING AND STOPPING MECHANISM FOR PHONOGRAPHS. APPLICATIONFILED JUNE 9, I920.

1,389, 169. mama Aug. 30, 921.,

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

I IN

UNITED STATESP'ATENT OFFICE.

- JULIUS C. TORCHIA, 01: ITAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC STARTING AND STOPPING MECHANISM FOR PHONOGRAPHS.

Application filed June 9,

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JULIUS C; TORCHIA, acitizen of the United States, residing at Hazleton, in the county ofLuzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Automatic Starting and Stopping Mechanism forPhonographs, of which the following is a specification. 1

This invention relates to improvements in automatic starting andstopping mechanisms the mechanism when the brake is 'set or for sound reoroducin a 3 aratus and has as its general object to provide meansactuated through the movement of the tone arm of the apparatus toautomatically release and to automatically set a brake member whichcoacts with the record supporting turntable so that when the tone arm isswung to position to start the stylus in the outer end portion of therecord groove, the brake will be released, and when the arm reaches theinner end of its travel, the brake will be set thus stopping therotation of the said turntable.

Another object of the invention isto provide a mechanism for the purposestated which may be readily applied to practically any of the ordinarymakes of phonographs and readily attached in place without anyappreciable alteration of the phonograph itself.

Another "obj ect of the invention is to construct the tripping member ofthe mechanism so that the same may be readily adjusted to adapt themechanism for applicationto various types of machines.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a. plan view of the mechanism embodying the presentinvention, the view illustrating the mechanism in its operative relationto certain parts of a phonograph and which parts are illustrated partlyin dotted lines; p v

Fig. 2 is a similar view but showing the relative positions assumed bythe parts of active; p 7

Fig. '3 is a detail perspective view illus-' trating the mechanismdetached, the view also illustrating a portion of the tone arm and aportion of the record supporting turn- Specification of Letters Patent.Patented Aug; 30, 1921 1920. Serial No. 387,655.

the mechanism embodying the present invention is' designed to coact. Themechanism of the invention is substantially completely housed beneaththe turntable 3 and the same comprises a base plate 5 which is designedto be secured to the upper surface of the top board or table of thephonograph. The mechanism includes a brake member which is indicated ingeneral by the numeral 6 and this member comprises a head 7 which ismounted by means of a pivot 8'upon the base plate 5 near one end of thelatter. An arm 9 projects from the periphery of the head 7 and has anupwardly directed end 10 which carries a small brake shoe 11 designedfor coaction with the inner side of the flange 4;, the said shoe beingbrought into and out of engagement with the flange by turning movementof the head 7 upon its pivot 8.

i In order to hold the head 7 in such position as to maintain )the brakeshoe 11in in active position, a detent member is provided and thismember is indicated in general by the numeral 12 and comprises an arm 13which is pivotally mounted as at 14 upon the base plate 5 near theopposite end of the lat ter. At its free end the said detent arm 13 isprovided with a laterally projecting tooth 15 engageable in a notch 16formed in the periphery of the head 7 and when the tooth is engaged inthe notch the head 7 will be in such position of rotation that the brakeshoe ll will be held clear of the flange 4 of the record supportingturntable as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawin s. In order toeffect automatic movement of the brake member to active position whenreleased by the detent 12, and to yieldablv hold the brake shoe inengagement with the flange 4, a coiled spring 17 is connected atone endto an upstanding flnger 18 upon thehead 7 of the brake member 6 and atits other end to a, similar finger 19 upon the detent arm 13.

Not only does the spring 17 tend to rotate the brake member to activeposition but it also exerts a pull upon the detent arm 13 tending toswing the outer end of the said 4:, and beyond the periphery of therecord the brake member is in or swung to active position. Thus as thebrake member 16 is rotated to inactive position, the arm 13 will beautomatically swung inwardly so that its tooth 15 will engage in thenotch 16and retain the member in inactive position when this position isreached, notwithstanding the pull exerted thereon by the spring'lT. Onthe other hand upon initial movement of the head 17 to cause the brakemember to assume an active position, the direction of pull of the springupon the arm 13 will be changed so that the arm will then tend to swingoutwardly to cause the tooth 15 to clear notch 16. The numeral 20indicates an arm which projects from the periphery of the head 7 beneaththe lower edge of the flange supporting turntable.

Mounted upon the pivot let for rocking movement, is a tripping memberwhich is indicated in general by the numeral 21 and this tripping membercomp ises arms 22 and 23 which extend in diverging relation and theformer of which is formed near its outer end with alongitudinallyextending slot2i receiving a pin 25 carried at the outer end of the arm20. It will be evident at this point that rocking movement of themember21 and consequently of its arm 22 will result 1n rocking movementof the arm 20 and conse-- quently in rotation of the head 7 of thebrake.

member 6.

The arm 23 supports a tripping member which is indicated in general bythe numeral 26, and this member is mounted upon the arm by means of ascrew 27 which is fitted through the member near its'inner end andthreaded into the end of the arm 23. A frie tion disk 28 is disposedupon the screw 27 between the under side of the said member 26 and theupper side of the arm 23 and it will therefore be evident that byloosening the screw 27, the member 26 may be angularly adjusted withrelation to the arm 23 and that by again tightening the screw the mem-'her will be secured in its position of adjust- I ment. In order toprovide for accurate adjustment oi the member and to insure against itsaccidental displacement under working conditions after it has beenadjusted to the proper angular position with relation to the arm 23, aset screw 29 is adjustably threaded through an upstanding ear 30 uponthe said arm 23 at one side thereof and bears at its inner end againstone lateral edge of the rear end portion of the member 26. This member26 is provided at its outer end with two fingers one indicated by thenumeral 31 and the other by the numeral 32. The fingers extend alongrelatively diverging lines, and the one indicated by the numeral 32 hasone of its edges of cam formation as indicated by the numeral 33 and isprovided with an exten sion 34: designed to project beyond the pe said 7.end of the fin er 31 by means of a set screw 37 fitted through theinner end of the said finger 36 and threaded into the said member 26, afriction disk or washer 38being interposed between the said inner end ofthe fin er and the upper surface of the said member 26 so that byloosening the set screw 37 the.

finger 36 may be angularly adjusted and tightening the set screw thefinger may be held in its positionof adj ustmenta The tone arm 1 isprovided upon its under side near its inner end with a downwardlyprojecting pin which is indicated by the numeral- 39 and which coactswith the trip member 26 in a manner which will now be described;

In applying the mechanism to a selected sound reproducing apparatus, thebase plate 5is secured to the top board of the box or cabinet of'theapparatus in such position that when the parts ofthe device are as shownin Fig. 2, the brake shoe 11 will be'in firm engagement with thedepending flange 4 of the record turntable, and when the parts are inthe position shown in Fig. 1, the brake shoe will be out of suchengagements. Also the device is so positioned that the'fin'gers 31, 32and 36 will be in the path of move- 'ment of the pin 39in the swingingmovement of the tonearm.

InFig. 2 ofthe drawings the parts of the mechanism are in such positionthat the brake is active and consequently in engagement with the flangeof the turntable. In this position of the parts the pin 39 isrlocated inthe angle between the fingers 31 and 32 and behind the cam 330i thelatter finger. After the record has been placed upon the turntable it isonly necessary in order to start the machine, to swing the tone arm tothe right so as to position thestylus in the outer end'portion of therecord grooveq hen the tone arm is thus moved; the. pin

39 will ride against thecam portion 33 of the arm 32 thus-effectingangular movement of the member 26 and consequently of the As this arm isswung, Swinging arm'22. movement will be imparted to-the arm 20 andconsequently the head 7 will be rotated and it finally assumes aboutlthepositionshown in Fig. 1 of the drawings in which position the arm 13will have been moved inwardl nthrough the influence ofthe spring 17' so.asto bring the tooth 15 into. engage ment in the notch 16 and in thismanner the gagementof the pin against the finger, the

detent arm 13 willrestrain the brake member 6 against movement to activeposition. In the playing of the record, the tone arm 1 willbe carriedinwardly in the usual manner as the stylus travels inthe record groove,until finally the pin 38 willcome into engagement with the finger 31.Upon such enmember 26 will beslightly rocked about its pivot and thismotion will be transmitted to the inactive position of the brake,thespring .17 extends between the fingers, l8 and 19 along a linepassingdirectly. above the; tooth 15 which is at such timeengaged withinthenotch 16 but upon slight movement of the:

brake member about its pivot caused through the movement of the arm '22under the conditions above stated, the position of the spring will beslightly shifted so that the detent.

member 12 will be swung out of active position andthe spring will thenimmediately act to swing the brake member 6 so as to bring its shoemember 11 into braking engagement with the flange of the recordturntable. In the manufacture of the device, the fingers 31 and 32 maybe suitably relatively positioned to adapt the device for application toa sound reproducing machine of a certain definite type-and make andlikewise to suit records of a certain definite size but where records ofanother size are to be employed and where the record grooves thereofwould terminate a distance from the center of the record greater thanthat which would provide for the tone a-rm being carried inwardly tobring the pin 39 into engagement with the finger 31, the finger 36 maybe brought into use and angularly adjusted so that it will be engaged bythe said pin 39 substantially at the moment the stylus-upon the tone armreaches the inner end of the groove in the particular type of record tobe employed. Likewise a supplemental adjustment may be effected byadjusting the set screw 29.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In automatic starting and stopping mechanism for phonographscontrolled through the movement of the tone arm, a brake member, atripping member mounted for oscillatory movement and connected with thebrake member, meanstending to move the brake member to active position,a detent for holding the brake member in inactive positi'onand adaptedto be rendered inmechanismfor the-brake member, means tending to movefforoscillatory movement and connected with thebrake member toactivejposition, a desaid tripping memberhaving spaced fingers the arm22 and to thebrake member 6. In.

one-engageable by the said actuating ele-j direction to effect actuationof the tripping member to render the vbrake member active and the otherengageable by the said actu- ,ating element to eifect movement of thetrippingmember to render the brake member inactive. a I I a r c '3. Inautomatic starting and stopping phonographs controlled through, themovement of the tone arm, a

.ment, when the .tone. arm is: moved in one brake member, atrippingmember mounted for oscillatory movement and connected with thebrake member, means tending to move the brake member to active position,a detent for holding the brake member in inactive position and adaptedto be rendered in active upon movement of the tripping member in onedirection, an actuating member formovement with the tone arm and forcoaction with the tripping member, the said tripping member havingspaced fingers one engageable by the said actuating element when thetone arm is moved in one direction to effect actuation of the trippingmember to render the brake member active and the other engageable by thesaid actuating element to effect movement of the tripping member torender the brake member inactive, and means whereby the fingers may beangularly adjusted.

4:. In automatic starting and stopping mechanism for phonographscontrolled through the'movement of the tone arm, a brake member, atripping member mounted for oscillatory movement and connected with thebrake member, means tending to move the brake member to active position,a detent for holding the brake member in inactive position and adaptedto be rendered inactive upon movement of the tripping member in onedirection, a member mounted for angular adjustment upon the trippingmember and having spaced abutment fingers, and an actuating element formovement with the tone arm and for coaction with the said fingers.

5. In automatic starting and stopping mechanism for phonographscontrolled through the movement of the tone arm, a brake member, atripping member mounted for oscillatory movement and connected 'with thebrake member, means tending to active position and adaptedto be renderedcomprising an angularly adjustable member provided with a cam portion,and an actuatingelement for movement w1th the .tone

tive position and adapted to be rendered in" active upon movement of:the tripping mem- 'ber in one direction. the tripping means havingspaced rigidly connected fingers one arm and for coaction with the saidcam por tionof said finger to move the tripping member in a manner torender the brake member inactiveand for c'oaction with the other fingerto render the detent member inactive and release the brake member formovement to active position. 6. In automatic starting and stoppingmechanism for phonographs brake member, a tripping member mounted foroscillatory movement andconnected With the brake member, means" tendingto move" the brake member to active position, a deto render the detentmember inactive and release the'brake member for movement to activepositiomand' a supplemental finger"- angularly adju'stably mounted uponthe controlled through the move-ment of the tone arm, a tion to beengaged by the actuatingelement in preference to engagement of the saidtent for holdingthe brakemember in inaccomprising an angularlyadjustable member having spaced rigidly connected fingers one providedwith a cam portion, an actuatin element for movement with the tone armand for coacrtion with the said cam portion of said finger to move thetripping member'in:

a manner to render the brake member' inactive and for coaction with theother finger tripping memberandl adjustable to posielement with: one of:the first-mentioned fin I gers;

Iii-testimony whereof I' ailix my-signature;

JULIUS TORCHrI-A. 1,. ea]

